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The Marshall Mathers LP
LISTEN TO THE ARTICLE: The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, the album is the follow up to 1999's The Slim Shady LP and was inspired by his critics who had been criticizing him. Released on May 23rd, 2000, the record sold 1.76 million copies it's first week and went on to be certified diamond by the RIAA. The album has been called the greatest hip-hop record, Rolling Stone placed it at 7 on the greatest albums of the 2000s and #244 on the 500 Greatest albums. History to this point Eminem released Infinite in 1996 to horrible album sales, cause of this, Marshall created the alter ego "Slim Shady" who had been introduced on The Slim Shady EP in 1997 which Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine play for Dr. Dre after getting a copy of it by Mathers after placing second in a rap competition called "Rap Olympics" impressed by it, Dre signed Eminem to his record company Aftermath Entertainment a sub company of Interscope. The Slim Shady LP dropped a year after being signed and became the biggest selling rap album of that year debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 and sold 283,000 copies it's first week. Writing process Marshall wrote lyrics while on a European tour promoting The Slim Shady LP and got inspiration in Amsterdam, while there, Marshall got a phone call from Dre at the studio who played a beat in the background, Marshall asked whats playing and Dre played the beat and asked him to send a tape of the beat, the beat would later become "Kill You". One of the songs he wrote during the European tour was "Kim" a song that features Marshall killing his then wife Kim Mathers the song doesn't appear o the clean version instead it's replaced by a song called The Kids. "Crminal" was based on a piano riff that Marshall overheard producer Jeff Bass playing in the next studio, he also gave Mathers the inspiration for "Marshal Mathers" after hearing him struming a guitar. Recording process The recording took two months and by February had 16 tracks and was ready to release the album. Marshall submitted the album to Interscope and said it was one track short of a great album, CEO Jimmy Iovine suggested a song similar to My Name Is from The Slim Shady LP, Mathers would later write "The Real Slim Shady " relased as the first single off the album. The Way I Am was released as the second single and talks about his fame and struggles going out in public and features Marilyn Manson who was accused of inspiring the Columbine shooting in Colorado. The most famous track "Stan" samples Thank You by Dido, The 45 King heard the song on an advertisement for the movie Sliding Doors and added a drum and bass line, Marshall loved the beat and wrote a song about an obsessed fan who killed himself and his pregnant girlfriend (played by Dido in the video) cause Eminem wouldn't respond to his letters. Lyrics The album contains more autobiographical lyrics than The Slim Shady LP, the main topics through out the album is personal life, stardom and criticzims that he has been given since the last album. The record also refrences events that have happend around the time like the Columbine School Shooting Massacre in Colorado but because of this, a clean version of the album was released but even on the explict version of the album most on the lines are censored including a line from the song "Im Back" with "I take seven kids from Columbine, stand 'em all in line Add an AK-47, a revolver, a nine A MAC-11 and it oughta solve the problem of mine." The album also contains lyrical samples and music references, with the chorus "The Way I Am" is a sample of "And The Rhythm Goes On" by Eric B. & Rakim, the first two lines of I'm Back are based on a song by the same group called "My Melody". The song "Marshall Mathers" is a parody of "Summer Girls" by LFO. Snoop Dogg makes an appearance of the album with the song 'Bitch Please II' and is the only song that Snoop and him did together. Some the lyrics on the record have been call Homophobic like with the song Criminal with the line "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/That'll stab you in the head whether you're a fag or les...Hate fags?/The answer's yes." which promoted GLADD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to protest the album to get it pulled off the shelves. Eminem responded to GLADD saying "I think its hard for some people to understand that for me the word 'faggot' has nothing to do with sexual preference. I meant something more like assholes or dickheads." and later said in an interview with The New York Times about same-sex marriages being legalized in Michigan "I think if two people love each other, then what the hell? I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want". He said that his "overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be." Controversy Lawsuits In 2002, Jacques Loussier (a french jazz pianist) sued Eminem cause he claims that he stole a song for the song "Kill You". Outside the US Eminem was supposed to play a concert in Toronto but was stopped by Canada's police force who said he wasn't allowed to enter the country cause of the hate crime laws in Canada. In a Globe and Mail editorial, author Robert Everett-Green wrote, "Being offensive is Eminem's job description.", Marshall was later granted in the country. Homophobic accusations The biggest controversy surrounding the album is the accusations made by GLAAD saying the album was homophobic and spreading "Hate speech", GLAAD would protest the album saying "This is not art, it's hate speech." GLAAD protested record stores and radio stations trying to stop them from promoting the album and trying to get the record to not be sold. Romaine Patterson at GLAAD said "The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem has been the most homophobic albums and lyrics we ever seem at GLAAD." the controversy came to ahead at the Grammy Awards who gave the album 3 Nominations which GLAAD didn't take too well, they would protest the event and convinced CBS to air a anit-bulling advertisement during the Grammy broadcast, Eminem backstage, jokingly said that he wants to perform "Stan" with openly gay musician Elton John, they asked Elton and said yes. Despite the performance being praised, GLAAD thought it was a publicity stunt and criticized Elton's decisions. Reception Awards The album was nominated for 3 Grammys and took away two awards, one for best rap album and another for best solo performance. Critical reception Despite the controversy, the record received critical acclaim, Metacritic gave the record a 78 out of 100. A critic for The Villiage Voice gave the album an A saying "a record that rarely flags for more than two or three tracks" and called Eminem "exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit", while declaring the album "a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political". An Allmusic review called the album "fairly brilliant". NME described the album as a "gruelling assault course of lyrical genius". Entertamient Weekly called it "indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable" and "the first great pop record of the 21st century". Rolling stone gave the record a 4 out o 5 stars saying that "a car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsettling. It's also impossible to pull your ears away from". Track Listing *1 - Public Service Announcement 2000 (skit) *2 - Kill You *3 - Stan (ft. Dido) *4 - Paul (skit) *5 - Who Knew *6 - Steve Berman (skit) *7 - The Way I Am *8 - The Real Slim Shady *9 - Remember Me? (ft. RBX & Sticky Fingaz) *10 - I'm Back *11 - Marshall Mathers *12 - Ken Kaniff (skit) *13 - Drug Ballad (ft. Dina Rae) *14 - Amityville (ft. Bizzare) *15 - Bitch Please II (ft. Dr. Dre, Xzibit, & Nate Dogg) *16 - Kim (replaced by The Kids on the Clean Version) *17 - Under The Influence (ft. D-12) *18 - Criminal Singles * The Real Slim Shady (May 16, 2000) * The Way I Am (September 7, 2000) * Stan (December 9, 2000) Personal *Dido Armstrong (Dido) - Composer, Featured Artist, Guest Artist *Jeff Bass - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer *Mark Bass - Composer, Producer *Rick Behrens - Engineer, Mixing *Steve Berman - Performer, Primary Artist *John Bigham - Guitar *Bizarre - Composer, Featured Artist, Primary Artist *Mel-Man - Composer, Producer *Mike Butler - Engineer, Mixing *Larry Chatman - Project Coordinator *Chris Conway - Engineer, Mixing *Tom Coster, Jr. - Composer, Keyboards *D12 - Featured Artist, Primary Artist *Dr. Dre - Composer, Featured Artist, Primary Artist, Producer *Nate Dogg - Featured Artist, Guest Artist, Primary Artist *Rob Ebeling - Engineer, Mixing *Mike Elizondo - Bass, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards *Eminem (Marshall Mathers)- Composer, Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals *Michelle Lynn Forbes - Engineer, Mixing *The 45 King & Louie - Producer *Paul Herman - Composer *Richard Huredia - Engineer, Mixing *Camara Kambon - Keyboards *Steven King - Engineer *Aaron Lepley - Engineer *Joe Martin - Production Coordination *James McCrone - Engineer *Akane Nakamura - Engineer, Mixing *Joe-Mama Nitzberg - Art Coordinator, Photography *Jason Noto - Art Direction, Design *Lance Pierre - Engineer *RBX - Featured Artist, Primary Artist *Paul "Bunyan" Rosenberg - Primary Artist *Les Scurry - Production Coordination *Snoop Dogg - Composer, Featured Artist, Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist *Sticky Fingaz - Featured Artist, Performer, Primary Artist *Kirdis Tucker - Project Coordinator *Xzibit - Featured Artist, Guest Artist, Performer, Primary Artist Charts and Certifications Chart positions Certifications